Are You Really Open-Minded? (or can I change your mind?)

I spent a year learning about a new area of psychology to try and change minds. But am I the asshole?

A big thanks to @Pickleball-IQ-5.0 for welcoming me into his farm. Additional thanks to Dr. Mylien Duong and Prof. Eranda Jayawickreme for their insights into intellectual humility.

Funding for the project was provided by the Greater Good Science Center and the Templeton Foundation, in conjunction with the Greater Good Science Center’s “Expanding Awareness of the Science of Intellectual Humility” project.

🎥 CREDITS
Hosted and produced by Vanessa Hill
Editing and graphics by Jonny Hyman
Story Editor: Anna Rothschild
Development Producer: Sean M. Elliott
Camera: Ross Asdourian, Jen Schachter, and Anna Rothschild
Scientific Advisor: Eranda Jayawickreme

#psychology #documentary #humility #aita #changeyourmindset

Key moments:
1:06 What is Intellectual Humility, anyway?
3:30 How to change a mind
5:25 Trying to change a mind
10:30 Testing my Intellectual Humility
11:58 Opening up my own mind
15:47 Am I the a*hole?
18:11 How to improve your own Intellectual Humility

[ClintEPereira]

Me: I like to think I'm pretty open-minded.
Braincraft: "Can I change your mind?"
Me: lol no good luck with that. I'm stubborn as hell.

[nandotemplo]

I'm very open-minded and you can't prove I'm wrong

[braincraft]

I spent 12 months learning about a new area of psychology to try and change minds. But am I the asshole? Lol idk lmk

[galgrunfeld]

You forgot step 0: be calm, and if you're not, calm yourself down. When we're not calm we tend to fall into tribalism, are less open to changing our mind, have stronger confirmation bias, have less empathy, etc. etc.
Being mentally ill (depression, mostly), I know I'm affected by it, and I'm glad therapy helps me be able to be more open-minded - it's something I've had much more before and missed having - and I still learned from the video I had and have room for growth - thank you!

[gamblerofrats]

It's fascinating how your work ended up demonstrating the outgroup homogeneity effect in action! I think we become so entrenched in the representations of lived experiences that we see through statistics, news, social media, articles, etc. that we forget how much nuance there really is in every process and way of living. When we're face to face with someone who represents more than just the isolated ideology that we disagree with, it becomes so much harder to "prove" our perceived intellectual/ideological superiority.

[gearfacts]

I believe John Stuart Mill had the idea that we should encourage others to disagree with us. That really stuck with me, and I think the extra concepts added here (awareness of intellectual arrogance, finding common ground etc) are really worthwhile :)

[Bigandrewm]

Based on what I've seen, the focus on storytelling in this episode doesn't focus enough on the root of things: social identification. The farmer did bring up early the social concern about someone not from his social circle trying to influence his dietary choices - so the "storytelling" approach probably needs to not just be about telling personal stories and learning, but actually inviting people to enter social groups. He also mentioned developing a relationship with a farmer that we trust - do you actually have a relationship with him? Are you buying his wares? Going to the same church? Hosting him if he travels for work trips? This is not just about "open-mindedness" - this is addressing more fundamental human needs.

[martixy]

Some things are not a belief.
A distinction must be drawn between objective and subjective reality and the people who consider reality to be objective or subjective.

[andersoncubillos]

I believe the first sign of intellectual arrogance is trying to change someone else mind (unless they ask). Before judging why people think in a certain way, be curious about why they think in that way. It is important to know about data and statistics but also talk with people face to face. There's always a reason why people do what they do. By the way, I love your channel, very educational. 👌👌

[xxlepusxx]

The first thing I thought about when I saw the cattle farmer, was that it was a small farmer and that those make produce locally and your ideas wouldn't catch.
There are stark differences between a farm like that, (technically an extensive farm) and a macrofarm with intensive farming where things are run like a tight ship and looking at the numbers and not at the animals. I don't think that farmer had more than 100 cows or 100 big animals counting the llamas and horses, and that is manageable and they have good space and conditions, however, if you search for intensive farmers, where most of the meat is derived from, the animal conditions are worse, there is less space, and truthfully, wou wouldn't have gotten access.
PS. I'm a vet student and I have seen both types (although at a smaller scale because there isn't much intensive animal farming where I study)

[hakesho]

The idea that a couple hours on google would make you more knowledgeable on a topic than someone who has been living and breathing that topic for years is incredibly arrogant. "Lets see if I can teach this cow farmer about cow farming" is such an absurd thought to have for anyone who isn't an expert on cows or farming.

[MrWorth]

After many discussions/arguments with no productive outcome, I've kind of set an internal alarm. After a certain amount of time, if the other person hasn't even attempted to see it from my point of view, then ill just concede everything and exit ASAP, its a waste of time trying to convince someone who cant be convinced, or who at the very least arnt willing to engage with you. I think I've only once successfully ended a discussion where we both agreed on the fundamental belief we disagreed with that led to our opposing stance on so many issues. That was nice. Its hard to get to actual fundamental beliefs on how we think about things and perceive the world from hot button issues. Its the 'why do you believe what you believe' that is more interesting to compare.

[pinkace]

I don’t think I’ve ever yelled ‘duh’ so many times at a yt video.

[HMBreno]

Awesome video, Vanessa! I'm a PhD candidate in Political Science, and I have conducted a similar research to explore how overconfidence in political knowledge can affect democratic attitudes in Latin America. Being overconfident is associated with an increase in the odds of endorsement for authoritarian measures of 13%, and of ideological extremism of 19%. In other words, it could be stated that being humble about your knowledge on politics makes you less prone to political extremism.

I see a lot of similarities with the original Dunning and Kruger study, popularized as the "Dunning-Kruger effect". Just food for thought.

[TheVoidSinger]

My personal experience with trying to change others minds is.... don't. People don't change their mind based on knowledge in areas where they already have a strong opinion, they only do it based on experience, and then only incrementally. The best you can do is actually demonstrate one small change that works better for them and hope they pick it up. They have to be free to change their own mind, based on their own experience.

[EmilyGraslie]

This is so interesting! You put words to some things I've been thinking and it was really interesting to watch you navigate all of this. I loved all of this

[michaelkemp]

From the outset, the premise is being Open Minded - and then you try to "change someone else's mind" without any thought that maybe your mind might be changed... I am not going to get into whether a plant based diet is better or worse, but you went into this with the opinion that it is better.
It was an awesome video on how difficult it is to allow for one's opinions to be open to change.

[vigilantcosmicpenguin]

Being more intellectually humble, as you put it, is something that I've been working hard on recently... And it is _hard work._ With any given topic, it takes a lot of effort to get your mind past the point where you think you have the answer to a question you can't even actually define. Open-mindedness is something one has to actively do, not just some character trait to rely on.

[susanne]

I'm moderately open-minded - not to the point my brain falls out, though ...

[venabre]

I wonder now if the mood improvement really came from the food.

Don't get me wrong, plant-based diets can be healthy. However I wonder if the feeling can come not from the food itself but from gaining a sense of control over one's life. That changing my diet is something I decided, without any direct external pressure, that I know has health benefits for me and the planet and that it makes me feel good that I can be part of it.